Not a bother, Roger. Now then, is there anything you'd like to plug, say, oily fish? [Laughs] Funnily enough, yes! As you know, I'm an ambassador for the British Heart Foundation, so I'm trying to raise awareness of the fact that the Food Standards Agency is recommending that people eat two portions of oily fish, such as mackerel, herring or salmon, per week. That's because research has shown that oily fish is rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids?! They influence the heart beat, the rhythm control system and also help reduce blood clotting. Obviously, with me having a leaky heart valve, healthy eating is something I've always had to do, so that's why I'm involved with this.

Sorry to hear about the leaky heart valve. When were you diagnosed with that? When I was 11 ...

You mean long before you won all those medals? [Casual as you like] Yeah, I never mentioned it when I was an athlete because I didn't want anyone making a big deal about it. It was discovered at a routine school medical and I've had to see a specialist every year since. Sometimes I have to take antibiotic tablets and things like that. I've had one serious scare but it was a false alarm; but I still have to be very careful.

It must have been a hell of a blow at the time? It was devastating at first because I loved sport as a kid and I wasn't allowed to play rugby. It seemed a bit silly that the fastest kid in the school wasn't allowed to play for the school. I didn't take up athletics until I was 18 and had left school. I just decided it was my destiny to be an athlete: I knew I was fast but I wanted to see how fast. Two months after I began serious training, I was in the Great Britain team.

That, if you'll pardon the expression, is really a heart-warming story ... The irony is that there's a theory that my heart has over-compensated for the incompetent valve so well that my condition actually became an advantage on the track!

So of which of your 15 medals are you most proud? The silver in the 400m in the 1996 Olympics. That's for two reasons: first, when all is said and done, the Olympics are absolutely what it's all about. And second, I did it when I was 30-years-old when it looked like I may finish without an Olympic medal. A close second, however, was the gold in the World Championship 4x400m relay with Kris Akabusi, John Regis and Derek Redmond because that was a piece of sporting history.

You guys seemed to be great mates. It was almost as if Kris's laugh didn't irritate you in the slightest ... [Laughs] You get used to it, you have to. Actually, Kris is one of my absolute best mates. And I play on the same football team as John Regis and see Derek pretty often too. I think the fact we were always so close made us a better team. You'd see the Americans and they'd always have great talent but they were just four individuals and never really seemed to have a laugh: but we trained together, ate together, socialised together and were basically like a gang.

You were awarded an MBE. At the ceremony, did you take the Queen to one side and ask her what it would take to get a full-blown knighthood? [Laughs] No. But it was quite funny actually. I was given the MBE in 1992 and the Queen said: "So do you have any important races coming up?" And all I could do was blurt out: "Er, yes ma'am. It's called the Olympic Games!"

Who's your favourite athletics pundit? [Long, awkward pause] I don't know. Most people say Michael Johnson but [laughs] in fairness, he's quite lucky because he can come over here, say whatever he likes and then fly off back to the States - and I think he's very aware of the that!

It's been said he has an enormous opinion of himself and is contemptuous of mere mortals. Discuss. I get on very well with Michael and always have done. It's true that as an athlete he wasn't the friendliest of people - he always treated me with the utmost respect but I don't think he was that way with everyone! But you understood that: he was so good and expectations around him were so high that he had to be a very focused man. When he retired, he became a lot more relaxed.

Who's the best athlete of all time? [Long pause] I think someone from my generation has to say Carl Lewis. Not just for what he achieved on the track and in the sandpit, but also the longevity and the variety. And he was the one person who really took athletics into the professional world. His performances really got the sport noticed. From a British perspective, I think a lot of us owe an enormous debt to Seb Coe and Steve Ovett - they were the ones that went around showing the rest of us that you could break world records and become professionals.

What percentage of athletes in the Olympics are on drugs? I don't know, to be honest. Obviously some people are taking drugs but I was in the sport for 14 years and I was never offered a drug. I think I probably would have known where to go if I wanted to get one but no one ever suggested that I did. I believe the vast majority of athletes are clean. Maybe you'll say I'm naïve but I base that on what people like Kris Akabusi, Daley Thompson, Jonathan Edwards, Paula Radcliffe - people who I really believe would never ever take drugs - have achieved.

Let's finally move on to the fun stuff, shall we. What's the last CD you bought? [Excited] Oh I know this one. I bought a stack of them the other day .... What were they again [lengthy pause&#93. God I can't remember [furiously head-scratching] Oh yeah - The Best of Prefab Sprout.

Prefab Sprout?! [Laughs] Prefab Sprout, a top 80s band! I bought it because I lost my previous version.

And the last book you read? That was "3:59.4" - it was the story of Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile. I rarely read athletics books but it was fantastic. It charts the history of miling and it's just great, a really inspirational read for any athlete.

What's your favourite TV show? [Ponders for about 3:59.4 minutes] The Office was great and I really enjoyed The Apprentice. And I also enjoy Desperate Housewives ... [lustily] because there's some hot women in that!

What would you slam into Room 101? That's for things you hate, right? [Small Talk confirms] Litter and people who drop it.

So what's the most evil thing you've ever done? Oh I can tell you that! I cheated in my biology A-Levels! Well, not cheated, let's say I used my initiative: I actually copied it out of a very old book and pretended I'd done a load of experiments. And I got an A [uproarious laugher]

Prepare to be stripped of your MBE, you cad! Now then, what's your favourite drink? Red wine. [With mock aloofness] but only a very good one.

Such as? I could recommend Chateau la Torpe but you don't want to drink that too often because it's a few hundred quid per bottle! So probably best to go for a good South African red.

Can you tell us a joke? [Proceeds to tell saucy gag about a woman with acute angina. Small Talk collapses to the floor with laughter. You would have loved it]